Tennis - 2006
By age 5, Brian Teacher was already playing tennis and swimming competitively. Be glad he got out of the water. The San Diego product culminated his professional tennis career with eight Singles titles, 15 Doubles crowns, and finalist honors a total of 27 times en route to official career earnings of $1,426,244.
Teacher found success early and never stopped. At Crawford High School, Teacher reigned victorious at the CIF championships, walking away with the Singles title. In 1972, he entered UCLA to follow in the footsteps of two other Bruins stars - Arthur Ashe (1965) and Jimmy Connors (1971). Teacher upheld his predecessors’ tradition of triumph by winning the PAC 8 Singles and Doubles titles in 1974, and finishing as a four-time All-American.
Just shy of receiving his degree in economics, Teacher turned pro, and began the grind of the professional tennis circuit. In 1977 he reached the finals in two Australian events, the South Australian and New South Wales Opens, but created an even bigger stir at the 1978 Seiko World Super Tennis tournament in Tokyo. There, he beat both Connors and Ashe at a time when few others could. He reached the finals only to lose to Bjorn Borg 6-3, 6-4. The event heralded the first telecast of tennis from Japan.
Teacher went on to claim his first Grand Prix title later in 1978, capturing the Cathy Trust Open in Taipei, Taiwan. The following year he won at Newport, Rhode Island, over Stan Smith at the Miller Hall of Fame Championships. In 1980 he reached five finals - Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok and New South Wales - and collected the runner up check at each event. Teacher made it to the final “round of 16” of the U.S. Open that year, losing to Roscoe Tanner in four sets. In 1981 Teacher won the Australian Open and reached the semifinals at Las Vegas and at Queen’s Club (England). He also won the doubles title at the Association of Tennis Professionals Championship in Palm Springs.
Teacher is a member NCAA Tennis Hall of Fame. After retiring from tennis, he returned to UCLA to earn his Bachelor of Science in Economics and then pursued his MBA from the USC School of Business. He is currently working in real estate development in the Los Angeles area..